The purpose of the proposed project will be to examine the role of several factors in the experimental acquisition of words by communicatively disordered children exhibiting particular difficulties acquiring language. Unfamiliar words referring to novel objects and actions will be presented across a number of sessions to language disordered children and a comparison group of normally developing children. The words selected will vary according to lexical type, phonological composition, and consistency with the children's demonstrated lexical orientations. The children's spontaneous use, unsolicited imitation, and comprehension of the words as a function of the variables of interest will be assessed.